Morning Star editor BEN CHACKO reports from the start of Kunming’s Belt and Road media forum, where 200 journalists from 71 countries celebrated a new openness and optimism, forged by China’s enormous contribution to global development

NESTLED in the heart of Washington, DC, a short distance from the White House, sits an oasis of calm. For now. It is the encampment at George Washington University (GWU) where, as at other college campuses across the country, students are protesting against Israel’s genocidal assault on Palestinians in Gaza and calling on their universities to divest from Israel and from the companies that profit there. The GWU encampment also includes students from six other universities in the region.
Scattered among the brightly coloured pup tents are a library, an arts supply table and a large medical tent. In the centre of the occupation is a white board advertising the day’s events.
The statue of George Washington has been draped with a keffiyeh, covered in pro-Palestine stickers and daubed with slogans decrying imperialism, genocide and warmongering. Television crews are parked permanently under shady trees waiting for something to happen.

Women opponents of the Trump regime fear his misogynist, racist and anti-immigrant views are taking hold in Britain, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER, as protests against his visit hit London’s streets

But the beneath the racism and misogyny of the far right lies a shared grievance with the left — Starmer’s complete betrayal of working people, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

Still the only black man to win the US Open tennis title, a statue of the legendary champion, Arthur Ashe, is now the only one remaining on Monument Avenue in his Richmond, Virginia hometown, where confederate leaders of the Civil War were also once displayed, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

Danni Perry’s flag display at the Royal Opera House sparked 182 performers to sign a solidarity letter that cancelled the Tel Aviv Tosca production, while Leonardo DiCaprio invests in Tel Aviv hotels, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER